


The Land of Nod

by extremelyperturbed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Drama, Drug Withdrawal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 17:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extremelyperturbed/pseuds/extremelyperturbed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on this kinkmeme prompt:</p><p>After the whole Gideon Catastrophe, Chilton decides to keep Will as pliant as possible by drugging the hell out of him. He's not doing this for the sake of being evil- just scared Will might try to tear his throat apart by thinking he's Gideon/another killer. Will can't fight back and prove he's innocent with such medication but he's too sleepy/content to even care anymore.<br/>At first Hannibal is amused to see Will so carefree (and easy to manipulate) but then worried this is destroying Will's ability to empathize/his intellect.</p><p>-Will being terribly honest to everyone when he's on drugs (confessing to Hannibal?)<br/>-Will having rare moment of clarity and understanding the drugs are slowly turning him into a cheery vegetable<br/>-Hannibal breaks Will out of prison but Will has developed an addiction to some of the drugs</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Land of Nod

“What is this?” said Will as he looked at a pill that was the color of grey lint. He was in his cell while Dr. Chilton was holding the medication up outside the transparent barrier. After Gideon had nearly killed him, Dr. Chilton made sure any patient he was near was close to sedated before he got in the same room with them.

Dr. Chilton smiled. “It’s a new drug called Languidol.”

“What does it do?”

“It relieves anxiety and curbs violence,” said Dr. Chilton. “It’s not like you really have a choice.”

Will grimaced.

***

Unlike most other psychiatric drugs that took weeks or even months to fully show their effects, the effects were pretty instantaneous especially since Dr. Chilton was prescribing an amount at the high end of the recommended dosage rather than slowly ramping up the amount to see how much was actually needed.

When Alana visited, she could instantly see that he was not himself. “Will?”

“Yes, Alana?” said Will, giving her a smile that was both giddy and sleepy.

“You’re not yourself.”

Will chuckled. “Isn’t that an improvement?”

“No, it’s not.” Alana felt like she was about to cry. What the hell is Chilton doing, she thought.

“It’s not like anybody gave a damn about the old me so why should I care?”

“I care.”

“I was unacceptable and unstable. Here . . . At least I’m consistently stoned.”

“What is Chilton prescribing you?”

“Something called Languidol. Such an ugly little pill . . . Yet it can do so much.”

Alana wrote it down.

“No, don’t take it away from me,” said Will. “It makes the pain of knowing that nobody believes in me and gives a damn about me go away.” He laughed and laughed as Alana got up and left.

***  
“Will?” said Jack in front of Will‘s cell. “Will!”

Will sleepily lifted his head off the bed. “Oh, if it isn’t Jack Crawford . . .” Then he put his head down and closed his eyes.

“Will, get up!” Jack banged on the transparent barrier. “I need your help regarding a case.”

“Why are you asking the help of someone whose judgment you don’t trust?” said Will, not bothering to sit up. “How about I just confess to it so you can close out the case?”

“The murders being committed have been done while you’ve been here.”

“Then . . . It must be someone else. There, I helped.”

“Will!”

Dr. Chilton went up to Jack. “Agent Crawford, I asked that you leave. You’re upsetting the other patients and as you can see, Will is currently on a drug regimen that makes him of little use to your current investigation.”

“Then cut back on his drugs so he can function.”

“I’m his doctor and I say that he remain on the drug cocktail I’ve prescribed for him! You are not in charge here!” said Dr. Chilton. “You will simply have to find someone else to do your dirty work!”

They glared at each other before Jack stormed off.

***  
Hannibal came to visit with the material Jack gave him regarding the case. Hannibal had smoothly promised him that he’d do his best to get Will to cooperate and help with the case.

As he stood in front of the transparent barrier, he had expected the stormy and scathingly sarcastic man he had seen when he first visited. However, seeing Will sleepy and smiling amused him greatly. “Will.”

“Dr. Lecter,” said Will.

“I was asked to see if you could help with a case.”

“If you would just confess to it, then we could close out the case,” said Will rather cheerily.

“I did not commit the murders,” said Hannibal. For once, it was true.

“Oh, then tell Jack that we just eliminated one suspect from the list!”

“Please, take a look at the file,” said Hannibal, sliding in the papers through the opening for food, medicines and other items. He hoped to see a performance of Will’s abilities. He had come to miss them tremendously.

Will briefly took a look at the written reports about a series of killings involving corpses being hung upside down and being drained of their blood. He tore off a page and started folding one of the pages.

Hannibal briefly thought that Will was trying to illustrate a point about the killer until he realized that Will was using the paper to make an origami figure. His smile fading, he snapped, “Will, stop that!”

“Look, it’s a doggie,” said Will, holding up the paper animal. “I should make six . . . Woof, woof.”

“If you’re trying to fake being incompetent . . .”

“Isn’t this what you wanted, Dr. Lecter?” There seemed to be a short burst of clarity. “You wanted someone who couldn’t fight back and I can‘t. You don’t get to have an audience who understands the nuance of your performances or any other performances if you also put the audience to sleep. None of this means anything to me . . . I’ll give Chilton one thing, I don’t dream anymore and I don’t feel the pain of your betrayal. Maybe Chilton’s the better doctor.” Will then laughed in Hannibal's face.

***

“What are you giving him?” said Hannibal as he talked to Dr. Chilton in his office.

“Languidol, 500 mg,” said Dr. Chilton.

Hannibal gasped. He had a very low opinion of Dr. Chilton but this was gross incompetence. “That is too much. You’re not supposed to give him that much.”

Dr. Chilton made a face. “You’re not the one risking life and limb trying to treat him. I refuse to have another Gideon on my hands. They managed to stuff everything back but I can't say it all works like it used to.”

“The situation regarding Gideon was created by your attempt at psychic driving him into helping you become famous. Making a zombie out of Will Graham does not help either him or you.”

“But at least it keeps me from being killed. I’m willing to forgo an award or two if I don’t get gutted again.”

“You can’t treat someone based on self-preservation.”

“Yes, I can and I will.”

***

“Where, where am I?’ said Will as he opened his eyes. He found himself inside a room that was definitely not his cell.

“You’re currently my guest.” Hannibal sighed. He had to not only shut down the electricity and surveillance system but had to get an unwilling and unhelpful inmate out without being caught. “I have had to expend a great deal effort to get you here.”

Hannibal also knew that detoxing would likely be very rough due to the high dosage. He could only hope that since Will had been on the drug for a relatively short time, it wouldn’t require treatment for delirium tremens. He did have some of the drug in case things got too out of hand but he planned to stick to using drugs to treat the symptoms of withdrawal like vomiting, diarrhea and muscles aches along with clonidine to help with the sweating, tachycardia and hypertension.

He knew that the best treatment would be a very slow weaning off the drug but he feared that further exposure to it would blunt Will’s abilities and personality permanently.

“I don’t understand,” said Will.

“Understand what?”

“Did you get me out just so you can kill me while I’m not high? I don’t think you’d like my meat . . .”

“I didn’t break you out to kill you.”

“Then why?”

“Believe it or not, I miss you, the real you.”

Will laughed before going to sleep again.

***

It took twenty-four hours for the earlier symptoms of withdrawal to roll in. Will started to become anxious instead of blandly cheerful. He whimpered that his muscles hurt, that he couldn’t sleep. He acted as if he had a severe flu with a runny nose and sweat pouring out of his body. “I . . . I don’t feel good,” Will whimpered.

“I know, I know,” said Hannibal as he gave him an analgesic for the aches and some Pedialyte to rehydrate him.

“Can’t you just give me some Languidol?”

“I can’t do that.”

Will twisted and turned, kicking the blankets off the bed, making sounds of distress.

While Hannibal took Will’s shirt off and wiped him dry, Hannibal began thinking of the perfect recipe for Dr. Chilton.

***

A few days later, the more severe symptoms of withdrawal kicked in. Will spent much of the time in the bathroom, either vomiting or having diarrhea. He felt alternately cold and hot. But he managed to escape the worst case scenario of delirum tremens where he could’ve hallucinated and had seizures.

“What will they do when they find out you busted me out?” said Will after two weeks of detoxing. He felt weak and miserable but he felt as if a fog had lifted from his mind.

“They believe that you busted yourself out. Or that you had an accomplice bust you out. But they do not suspect me.”

“What are you going to do with me?” said Will.

“I think that depends on you. I have to say that it‘s good to hear the real you again.”

Will cursed which made Hannibal smile even broader.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> It was hard to avoid using a name of a real drug that used one of the various synonyms for placid.


End file.
